Google Play Music vs Spotify – Discover the Ultimate Music Streaming Platform

Music is a natural healer, and that’s why listening music is one practice almost every individual has in common. Since we’ve upgraded in terms of lifestyle, gadgets, and technology, music has also gone for a technological modification. All of us have a smartphone, and each smartphone contains a music player. Today, we’re going to talk about Google Play Music vs Spotify, and compare their features, quality, user interface, pricing and much more.

Music streaming services are something which is being brimmed in Android OS. Spotify was the unnamed king of the industry for Android devices until Google Play Music stepped in. Among various different music streaming platforms, Google Music and Spotify are sharing the crown together. So, it might be difficult for you to pick one.

This article is going to make your job easy. With an in-depth comparison of different aspects, you can choose the better one. Without spending words anymore, let’s get into the main topic.

Google Play Music vs Spotify – Comparison between Best Android Music Streaming Platforms

Both of them have their free and paid versions to offer. Let’s discover which one worths your money.

Audio: Quality, Quantity, and Speed

Quantity

When it comes to the number of songs and music, both the Google Play Music and Spotify contain over 30 million songs. If we try to be a bit more precise, we can find the Google Play Music includes over 35 million songs and Spotify has over 30 million in its kitty. Seems like Google Music has won this aspect of Google Play Music vs Spotify comparison.

Speed

If we talk about speed, and numbers, both Spotify and Google Music generate a maximum streaming speed of 320kbps. So, it’s a tie.

Quality

You can choose your preferred audio quality from the given options in both the music streaming services once you go online.

Google Play Music: Google Music has a handful of selective audio qualities to offer for both cellular data and Wi-Fi – Low, Normal, High, and Always High. The most exciting part is that all the audio qualities mentioned are accessible in the free version of the player.

Spotify: On the other hand, Spotify also includes a toggle for the cellular data. But the music player doesn’t differentiate between two networks. So, you’ll not get to choose the quality over both the networks precisely. The audio qualities offered by Spotify are Automatic, Normal, High, and Extreme High.

Extreme High feature is missing from Spotify’s free version but a human ear cannot differentiate much between High and Extreme High. Considering the fact, you won’t be usually requiring the extreme high audio quality.

Till now, Google Play Music is leading the comparison: Google Play Music vs Spotify. Let’s discover what comes next.

Interface

The interface will definitely play a pivotal role in Google Play Music vs Spotify. The first glance at Google Play Music will convey you a flashy, bright display, and a dark one for Spotify. But a deeper research can bring out delicate differences between these music streaming services.

Google Play Music: Google Play Music is decorated with the authentic Google Material designs which will welcome you when you’ll first launch the application. Moreover, there’ll be a handful of songs and music picked up especially for you as greetings.

Taping on the three-horizontal-lined icon at the top-left corner of Google Play Music will show you some additional tabs and categories, such as Recents, Top Charts, New Releases and Settings to name a few. You don’t need to go anywhere from this table since it will offer you all the likely destinations.

Spotify: Contrarily, Spotify contains a dark interface which is completely opposite to the colorful Google Music. It’s true that both Spotify and Google Music follows the same pattern in terms of interface but Spotify considerably has more tuned design and layout compared to Play Music.

Right after you launch the app, it will lead you to the homepage where playlists will be displayed according to your taste and recently played songs. The lower panel of Spotify contains Settings, Library, and Radio which makes it easier for you to navigate through the app. But to find a specific playlist of your friend or your own, lots of swiping are involved.

Both the music streaming platforms have a truncated version of the whole music player at the bottom. It’ll take time for a beginner to get used to with Spotify’s functionality, unlike Google Music where navigation and usability are seamlessly easy. So, it looks like a tough competition for Google Play Music vs Spotify!

Recommendations

This very point can be the decisive factor in the battle of these two music applications. So, let’s find out how Google Play Music and Spotify suggest music, and how accurate it becomes.

Google Play Music: This music streaming service of Google notes down you’re your preferences and music taste at the beginning when you sign-in. Your preferences and personal favorites allow Play Music to jot down the songs, and recommend to you.

Moreover, Google Music offers a wipe up option which helps users to wipe all the memory and start things once again. But arguably, it doesn’t make any impact! If you wipe up the previous choices and opt for a new one, Google Play Music is going to suggest songs to you that stay far from your favoritism.

Spotify: Now if we talk about Spotify, the scenario will be completely opposite to how it is in Play Music! Spotify notes down your musical taste and serves you the songs almost exactly like your preference. Moreover, the ‘Discover Weekly Playlist’ of Spotify features 30 best songs to satisfy your taste. The songs are renewed every Monday of each week.

The music genres of Spotify also turn out to be handy compared to Google Play Music. Spotify lays out the genres quite perfectly in the Browsing section. On the other hand, Google Music doesn’t provide any worthy genre which is a bit second-rate.

As you can see, when it comes to the recommendation, an important part of an online music streaming application, Spotify easily beats Google Music Player. So, who’s winning in Google Play Music vs Spotify competition?

Exclusive Features

This point is going to be both useful and tough to choose the winner of Google Play Music vs Spotify comparison. It’s quite obvious that two of the biggest music streaming platforms would certainly have impressive features to offer. And the comparison takes an interesting turn here. It would be quite fascinating to pick out the better from two bests. Let’s start the feature-wise comparison.

Google Play Music

Google Music allows selecting the preferred audio quality for both cellular data and Wi-Fi which is very handy in terms of smooth and clear audio.

Google Music allows you to manage the location of the device you’re using.

The Google advantage adds a feather in Google Play Music’s crown. Most of the songs in Google Play Music will be available on YouTube as the video version. So, you can watch the video from of each song in Google Play Music. You just need to tap on the three vertical dots at the right-side of a listed song. You’ll find a Watch Video option over there.

There’ll be playlists built for you in Google Play Music; you can save it to the library in the free version. But the Google Music won’t allow you to create playlists on its free version!

Spotify

One of the best features of Spotify is its crossfade option. Crossfade is such feature that will allow you to reduce space between songs and make the transitions of the songs sound better.

You will regularly receive your daily dose of refreshment in Spotify with its Discover Weekly Playlist feature which is, as described earlier, filled with the songs according to your taste and preference.

You can create different types of playlists in Spotify such as Collaborative or Secret Playlist. Even the free version of Spotify allows you to organize the playlists or import them.

In terms of features, now it’s your call to decide the winner when it comes to Google Play Music vs Spotify. Yes, it’s going to be difficult, but if you focus entirely on mp3 songs, we believe Spotify secures the spot.

Offline Music

If you’re off the network and still want to have the divine source of engagement, offline features are the only option left for you. Both the Google Play Music and Spotify contain their offline listening feature. But both of the music streaming giants have their own pricing. Offline music comes with a price for both the applications.

While Google Play Music allows the offline features only when you’ve subscribed to the app, Spotify has its own premium version to offer. The Spotify Premium will offer you 3000+ songs each device on three devices.

Thus, offline music cannot decide the better one between Spotify and Google Play Music. Let’s see what comes next.

Accessibility

Accessibility can become a defining factor in some countries and regions. Basically, if you consider a global approach, Spotify may disappoint you!

Yes, despite Spotify’s unmatched popularity and awesome functionalities, for some unknown reasons, it is not available in various countries (like India). So, if you’re from one of those countries, unfortunately, you will not be able to use Spotify.

On the other hand, Google Play Music is truly global; and being a product of a worldwide brand – Google, it is available in every corner of the world. So, anyone of any country can enjoy songs through Google Music. In terms of accessibility, Google Music is clearly triumphant.

PC Version

Smartphones do have taken our daily dealings and habits by storm. But the old is always gold. Yes, we’re talking about the desktops and laptops. Though listening to music is often done by our handy little devices, PCs are also useful when it comes to listening music while working in office or home.

While Spotify has its desktop app for both Windows and MAC, Google Play Music hasn’t got a desktop app yet. Nevertheless, it has a bunch of third-party apps that support Google Play Music. While Google Play Music is entirely browser-based for the desktop users, some third-party applications have stepped forward to fill the void. Google Play Music Desktop Player and Radiant Player are such examples of the third-party applications.

Eventually, your comfort matters the most. Who would like to toggle between tabs to play or pause a song?

Price

Price is obviously an important part of anything we opt for; and something that can single-handedly create a huge difference. But not if it’s about Google Play Music vs Spotify! Both the music streaming applications offer similar pricing plans but have a very thin variance.

Spotify Price

For the premium version, Spotify comes with $9.99 as the minimum for a single user. And the Family Plan (six users) costs as much as $14.99. Moreover, Spotify has 50% discount to offer the students.

Google Play Music Price

On the flipside, Google Play Music offers a 30-day free trial where the music will be limited to the local songs and radio music. Keep in mind that the radio songs will be full of advertisements, and those will be dedicated to a single genre. After the free trial ends, you can upgrade your account to premium with $9.99 for a single user and $14.99 (family plan of six users).

So, there’s not much to distinguish between Google Music and Spotify in terms of prices. But Google Play Music offers the YouTube Red with its premium subscription. That can be a bonus point.

That’s all about Google Play Music vs Spotify. We’ve taken every possible aspect into consideration. Now, it’s your turn to pick one. If you ask us, our vote will go for Spotify considering its awesome song suggestions and features. Who’d like to search a song from millions?

But there also lies a contradiction. Since Google Play Music is more accessible worldwide (unlike Spotify which is unavailable in several countries), Google Music also gets a thumbs up for this accessibility.

If you have any confusion regarding any information provided above, write us back in the comment section, we’ll be more than happy to help you. Moreover, if you come up with any point that could be listed in our article – Google Play Music vs Spotify, feel free to let us know. We’ll certainly add it in our article.